The Prophet says, No house has been built in Islam more beloved in the sight of Allah than through marriage.

On another occasion the Prophet (s.a.) said,

The best people of my nation (Ummat) are those who get married and have chosen their wives, and the worst people of my nation are those who have kept away from marriage and are passing their lives as bachelors.
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A person, fully capable of marrying (physically and mentally capable), keeps away from marriage. Reason, the person cannot marry the person of his/her choice. Is it a sin not getting married in this situation?

The best people of my nation (Ummat) are those who get married and have chosen their wives, and the worst people of my nation are those who have kept away from marriage and are passing their lives as bachelors.

What if you're a freak? What if you can't afford to get married?

Originally posted by Nyasia

A person, fully capable of marrying (physically and mentally capable), keeps away from marriage. Reason, the person cannot marry the person of his/her choice. Is it a sin not getting married in this situation?

I think most people would answer No to that question, even if getting married might be preferable.

We should respect people who decide not to get married. We should certainly not call them the "worst people" of a nation in my opinion.

Matt,
you have right to your opinion, but what is said above is Islamic understanding based in Quran and Sunnah. Your, mine or Tom's opinion does not alter nor move it.
Marriage is the only way for two adults of opposite sex to come in contact with each other. Anything else will be against the will of God. We are best of God's creation, and God has given us best of rules to conduct our lives to distinguish us from lesser in degree of His creation.

Others can compromise, change, alter, or leave their religious teachings to ever changing new ideas, but in Islam only God has such authority, if God decide to give us new rules or to change the existing ones He will let us know which means never as what we have with us is the Final Testament (the Quran), no new revelation will follow it.
Hasan

39:64 Proclaim: Is it some one other than God that you order me to worship, O you ignorant ones?"

Hasan,Our opinion matters when Muslims who live in our countries become victims of discrimination with conservative Muslims being the perpetrators. The victims in this case are unmarried Muslims. The Islamic understanding based in the Quran and Sunnah must take the historical context into account. Otherwise today's Muslims have a duty to reintroduce slavery and follow the rules of the Quran how to treat slaves. Here's an excerpt from an interview with Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd to illustrate my point:

Question: "The question of what the Muslim attitude to violence is still one that very much preoccupies the West. You recently pointed out that recourse to the Qur'anic Surahs is totally misleading in today's context.

Abu Zayd: "Of course, the Qur'an sometimes uses very strong language in its exhortations to fight. Researchers have to question why the Qur'an employs such strong, persuasive language in this case. The context is crucial here. The Arabs who believed in Muhammad were to be convinced of the need to fight against their own families and, in so doing, reject pre-Islamic traditions. So it was forbidden for an individual to fight against his own tribe. But the arrival of Muhammad as prophet drew so many members of various tribes to him. When the time came for them to defend their new community, the threat came from their own tribes. The uncompromising tone of the Qur'an is understandable here. Islam was not born out of a world empire; it arose from a world of tribal tradition, tribal laws and pagan rules. Blood bonds and tribal ties did not hold the new community together. They came, after all, from many different tribes. They came together into a new kind of tribe, one that from the beginning was locked in conflict with other tribes. They had to defend themselves. All of this formed the Qur'an. It is very much a product of its formative influences. We cannot understand the Qur'an without knowledge of the historical background. I see my work as part of my long interest in Islamic hermeneutics, the methodology of understanding the Qur'an, the Sunnah and other components of the Islamic tradition. Of particular concern for me are certain assumptions in popular Islamic discourse that have not been fully examined, and have generally been ignored or avoided. Thus, for instance, Muslim scholars have not seriously reflected on the question of what is actually meant when we say that the Qur'an is the revealed Word of God. What exactly does the term Word of God mean? What does revelation mean? We have the definitions of the word and revelation given by traditional scholars, but other definitions are also possible. When we speak of the Word of God, are we speaking of a divine or a human code of communication? Is language a neutral channel of communication? Was the responsibility of the Prophet simply that of delivering the message, or did he have a role to play in the forming of that message? What relation does the Qur'an have with the particular social context in which it was revealed? We need to ask what it means for the faith Muslims have in the Qur'an if one brings in the issue of the human dimension involved in revelation."

Question: "Are you suggesting that the Qur'an cannot be understood without taking into account the particular social context of seventh century Arabia? In other words, are there aspects of the Qur'an that were limited in their relevance and application only to the Prophet's time, and are no longer applicable or relevant today?"

Abu Zayd: "What I am suggesting is that in our reading of the Qur'an we cannot undermine the role of the Prophet and the historical and cultural premises of the times and the context of the Qur'anic revelation. When we say that through the Qur'an God spoke in history, we cannot neglect the historical dimension, the historical context of seventh century Arabia. Otherwise you cannot answer the question of why God first 'spoke' Hebrew through his revelations to the prophets of Israel, then Aramaic, through Jesus, and then Arabic, in the form of the Qur'an. In a historical understanding of the Qur'an one would also have to look at the verses in the text that refer specifically to the Prophet and the society in which he lived. Some people might feel that looking at the Qur'an in this way is a crime against Islam, but I feel that this sort of reaction is a sign of a weak and vulnerable faith. And this is why a number of writers who have departed from tradition and have pressed for a way of relating to the Qur'an that takes the historical context of the revelation seriously have been persecuted in many countries. I think there is a pressing need to bring the historical dimension of the revelation into discussion, for this is indispensable for countering authoritarianism, both religious and political, and for promoting human rights."

So we should debate the role of marriage in 7th century Arabia, in my opinion. We should compare this context to today's context. Today we reject slavery and for the same reason we should reject calling unmarried people the "worst people" of a nation. If we allow this, we are guilty of discrimination and in European Union countries discrimination is a serious offense which might result in a legal complaint.

Edited by Matt Browne - 27 November 2012 at 6:55am

A religion that's intolerant of other religions can't be the world's best religion --Abdel Samad
Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people--Eleanor Roosevelt

Matt has become quite adept at the "pivot" in discussions, turning almost anything into an us against them - east vs. west (and never shall the twain meet) screed. Whether you like it or not Muslims have become, and are indeed citizens of "our" countries. Muslims, like others, have a right to religious protection under the law and to not be subjected to xenophobia.

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